This past week I went to a conference focused on on-site power. It was an incredibly informative conference that looked to meld the worlds of solar PV, CHP (combined heat and power) and storage. The three technologies together make for a new vision of energy. In fact, this was the entire focus of the conference – New York State’s new Reforming Energy Vision (REV) program. It is highly important work that New York State and all New York companies are doing to take a step back and see how we can update our grid and access/create energy so that it fits our twenty-first century needs. Click here for more information.

Here is a short summary of how these power strategies work — and how they can work together.Read More

Lately we’ve noticed a lot of advertising in Westchester, Rockland County and the greater New York area claiming that solar energy installation is free.

As advocates for the solar energy industry—and its growing body of homeowners—we feel the need to explain why this advertising is misleading. Companies who advertise “free installation” are usually offering homeowners a lease option, whereby the homeowner does not own the system, but instead leases the system for a 20-year period from the solar company. The solar company owns the system and is responsible for its operation and maintenance for the life of the term. The system resides on the homeowner’s roof. Read More